Takara God Ginrai - Optimus Prime - Super Ginrai & Godbomber

Upgrades

God Ginrai - the product of the Takara LG-42 Godbomber upgrade - is the kind of upgrade that we’ve been waiting for, for a long, long, looong time.

And that's saying a lot.  If you go through this blog you'll find countless 3rd party upgrades. And we dare to state that, in terms of playability and sheer joy, the 3rd party upgrades have given us far, far more  happy-happy-joy-joy than their legit counterparts.

Check out some of our 3rd party upgrades by clicking here. 

Then the LG-42 Godbomber came along. 

We're glad that the toymaking gods are finally listening to their worshipers. 

For Part 1 of our Takara LG-42 Godbomber review, do click here. 

MORE AFTER THE JUMP

If you need proof to support our rather brash statement, I say take a look at the Gaia Unicorn upgrade for Optimus Prime. Is the Takara AM-19 an armor upgrade or a prison? It's pretty hard to decide given how a super-pose-able character is suddenly reduced to standing there waiting for a strong gust of wind to blow him over.

Let's face it, this is not the worst thing you've caught me doing.

But we digress. We'd like to take the time to point out at this point that the Optimus Prime used here is a Takara LG-35 Ginrai with a Perfect Effect PC-15 head upgrade - hence the glowing eyes. 

I see you

WHAT'S TO LIKE ABOUT THE TAKARA GOD GINRAI? 

FIRST: He was pleasantly easy to assemble. NOT LIKE YOUR VERSION XOVERGEN!!!! And once assembled, he tends to stay assembled. Again NOT LIKE YOUR VERSION XOVERGEN!!!! 

SECOND: The Godbomber upgrade is versatile enough that if you don't like his recommended form - look left, Takara designed God Ginrai to have wings that mounted above his shoulders. However if you follow the cartoon or just look at our collection of God Ginrai's here, you'll see that God Ginrai was meant to have wings mounted behind his shoulders.

Happily, Godbomber is soooo well  designed that - with a lot of patience and twisting - you can bring his wings down and give him a wicked set of kibble that look like horns or cannons. 

You don't mess with the God Ginrai

You can now even mount Super Ginrai's guns back there: 

Speaking of guns have you ever noticed that Super Ginrai's guns are... hollow, but don't attach to each other? Check this out:

Now you know where they go.

THREE: Just like his cartoon version God Ginrai has room for three Headmasters in his chest - the Junior Headmasters liked to ride Godbomber as a set. Cab and Miverva are available in an upcoming Super Ginrai/Godbomber pack from Takara. Shuta Go/Godshooter comes with the Takara version of Wheelie. 

And you can see the Headmasters when you close up God Ginrai's chest:

FOUR: God Ginrai's feet detach/attach from Godbomber using Combiner War technology. You can use the feet as legs for Combiner Wars figures - though they'd make the combiner a tad short.

I'm a work in progress. Don't judge me. 

FIVE: To attach God Ginrai's arms, you have to pull Super Ginrai's arms out, hence his proportions are better and he doesn't look like a steroid driven dwarf.

SIX: Super Ginrai and Godbomber combine quite well. NOT LIKE YOUR VERSION XOVERGEN!!!! 

One nitpick: Godbomber's missile sits on Super Ginrai's trailer.

SEVEN: His articulation is pretty good for someone so big. He can't kneel though.

WHAT'S NOT TO LIKE ABOUT THE TAKARA GOD GINRAI? 

FIRST: We're really not fans of their base modes. 

SECOND: We don't remember if God Ginrai had a sword. We're leaning towards no so we didn't shoot him wielding it.

THIRD: He cannot do the "God Punch" or the move where both his forearms pop off to do extensive damage.

Other than that? This is something you should have as a collector - at least til PC Effect releases its version - in which case, you better have another Super Ginrai to attach to that one. 

And Takara makes 5