Monday, March 23, 2015

Xovergen TF-02 God Armor

Presenting the TF-02 God Armor from Xovergen. 

Is it weird that while it's meant to be pronounced Cross Over Gen, we prefer to use the uninformed reference of "Sovergen" which we've always seen as a bastardization of "Sovereign"

By the way, Autobot logos are from Reprolabels. The Xovergen TF-01 does not come with Autobot logos on his shoulders.

We're big fans of the Transformers Super-God Masterforce: God Ginrai so when the packaging of the Xovergen TF-01 promoted that Xovergen would be releasing a GodBomber upgrade soon, we counted the seconds before it would be released.

And it took quite a while.

Unfortunately we were quite disappointed.


The Xovergen TrailerForce (TF-02) God Armor came in a quite hefty box that displays the wonderful articulation of Godbomber and how wonderful it looks when combined with the Xovergen TF-01Armor AND/OR the MP-10 Optimus Prime.

That's about all it says since we can't read Japanese. But it is a hefty solid box. For those of you who like to just store these in boxes, this is a nice box for shelf display that is quite sturdy and will stand to suffer quite a bit of wear and tear before it gives.

What's NOT to like about the Xovergen Trailerforce TF-02 God Armor?

Oh where to begin this tedious lament? FIRST: THERE ARE NO INSTRUCTIONS!!!! Well that's not fair, the Xovergen TF-02 God Armor comes with something that looks like instructions, but really isn't. It's just a sheet of paper that mostly shows you what the final product looks like.

Come to think of it, Xovergen TF-01 came with similar rubbish for instructions, but that was a bit more straight forward. We had to go to Youtube to figure out how to assemble the God Armor. We're advocates of complex transformations, but please do give us realistic instructions. There is no way you'd be able to figure out how to form God Ginrai without instructions. So thank you very much BensCollectibles on YouTube.

SECOND: We have to mention this early as this is quite an expensive upgrade and it would be a shame to lose it: Although it's quite hefty and built of sturdy plastic, in the formation of God Ginrai, you will find youself pegging parts together a lot. After one transformation, we started to notice stress marks on the pegs, particularly on the pegs that hold God Ginrai's chest and back-pack:


So, no, we're not transforming Xovergen TF-02 God Armor again.

THIRD: One of the reasons why we really loved the Xovergen TF-01 was that it was an upgrade armor kit for Classics, G1, Powermaster and/or the Evasion Optimus Prime. When you combine Xovergen TF-02 to form God Ginrai, you unfortunately have to lose the Optimus Prime inside. We've tried various methods, but there is simply no way to combine a Prime with the two armors.


So the Xovergen God Ginrai is purely a 3rd party creation. No longer an upgrade for Optimus Prime.

FOURTH: After you've managed to cajole, peg and put everything together, you'll find out that the following about Xovergen TF-02:
  • Makes God Ginrai top heavy
  • Has wings that won't lock into place without help due to their weight
  • Gives God Ginrai ridiculously large lower legs that keep popping apart. His feet in particular will keep popping off. 
  • Does not have the Tachyon Missile that the original God Ginrai has. 
And we're probably not the only one who has noticed. We have to say it, with the Xovergen TF-02 God Armor, this new God Ginrai looks nothing like the classics God Ginrai that we've come to know and love. 


So forget poseability. Even if you adjust TF-01's joints by loosening the screws, God Ginrai will either be top heavy or keep losing his legs. He's strictly a display piece:


FIFTH:  Xovergen TF-02 God Armor's truck mode looks great! Very Cybertronian. BUT! it does not combine with the TF-01 Trailerforce as the original Masterforce set does.


SIXTH: To properly attach the shoulder pauldrons to an MP10, we suggest that you first shave the holes around which the smokestacks pass through first else you might end up scratching the chrome.

SEVENTH: It's actually easier to combine the Xovergen TF-02 God Armor with an MP-10 Optimus Prime. However, again you end up with a figure that has ridiculously large lower leg armor, that yes, still likes to pop off no matter how well you peg it.

The upper torso also becomes extremely top-heavy, his wings have that nasty habit of swinging back and forth - aside from dropping uncontrollably - and the MP-10 loses a ton of arm articulation thanks to the added on shoulder pauldrons. The end result is a barely poseable figure.

There is also no place to shoulder mount the God Cannon and while he can hold it with both hands, his robust chest constantly gets into the way.


This is our least favorite mode.

EIGHT: In Godbomber mode, unlike his PowerMaster version, GodBomber's God Cannon cannot be mounted on his shoulder. He can however dual wield it or break it down to two hand-held cannons:



NINE: (A New Record): Xovergen Trailerforce God Bomber has a 6-pack missile launcher that opens up on his chest, but it also has another compartment that opens up and reveals.... nothing! Absolutely nothing!


What's to like about the Xovergen Trailerforce TF-02 God Armor?

FIRST: God bomber is a wonderful stand-alone figure!

He's a fine tribute to the cartoon version. Xovergen definitely went after his look first.

SECOND: And GodBomber's articulation is everything it was touted to be! It's excellent! Yes he can kneel. He does everything you wish that God Ginrai could do.




So despite our misgivings about what Xovergen's God Ginrai looks like, side-by-side Xovergen's TF-01 and TF-02 look great together:



Really love those Reprolabels stickers.

THIRD: At the cost of some arm articulation, you can give Xovergen TF-02 God Bomber an armor upgrade:


FOURTH: The Xovergen TF-02 God Armor comes with hand options. The default hands for the Xovergen TF-02 are a pair of highly articulated appendages almost akin to the UFO Replacement Hands:


One of the gripes we had about the Xovergen TF-01 Super Ginrai was that his hands were kinda limp-wrist-ed - though we never actually did that review. TF-02 God Armor provides him with new hands that are far more rigid allowing him to now properly hold his two main cannons, or the God Cannon split into two:


God Ginrai's articulation is good enough that he can shoulder hand-fire his God Cannon or dual wield it:


FIFTH: Xovergen TF-02 and TF-01 form a really, really massive 3rd party God Ginrai. If you like them big, then this is the figure set for you:


This particulat Xovergen TF-02 God Armor was purchased from GreatToysOnline for PhP 7,500 (Roughly US$ 167.00). We have mixed feeling about whether or not it's worth it. Leaning more towards it isn't.


2 comments:

  1. I am also a believer of complex yet impressive transformations on TF toys. When we say impressive, it should have complete points of articulation for superb posing and must look very awesome. I suggest to 3rd party companies was for them to replace their unintuitive instruction paper sheets with CD videos to accurately show the proper use of their product. It could be popped straight into DVD player or your computer.

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  2. I agree. Official Transformation videos should be made readily available

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