Cliffbee.com Doryu Toy Review

Individual Review




Name: Doryu
Series: Japanese Generation 1
Allegiance: Destron
Function: Land Soldier
Alternate Mode: Dog Monster

Thanks to heroic decepticon for loaning me Doryu for this review



MONSTER MODE
Height: 4.5cm Width: 3.5cm

   A cobalt blue and white bipedal Monster, Doryu is a repaint of Scowl shares his colours with Yokuryu. The bulk of this monster is blue, including the stumpy legs, but the sides and back of the legs are white, along with his rather flat head and fists. He sports red eyes on either side of his head and there are various stickers, most notable are two on either side of the torso with Decepticon logos as part of their pattern (missing from my photos). The colours work well enough, even if they're a tad bland.

   This is a pretty bad monster mode. The fists _look_ like the robot fists (which they are), the head is very flat and it really relies on the dog-like head to actually _look_ like a monster. Goryu uses the same bodyplan but does it much better. There's no play value and it really just ends up looking like the folded up robot mode that it is.

   I'd like to elaborate more on this mode, but it's incredibly simple without any real positives. There are toes on the feet and he can hold his pistol in the fist, but this looks kind of strange on a bipedal dog which is already weird enough in itself.

TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE

   Considering how trivial the monster mode is, this is slightly more complex than can be expected, although it's still simple. Fold the white leg sheath down to form the lower legs of the robot, flip the head up to form the robot head and straighten the arms. Give Doryu his gun.

ROBOT MODE
Height: 7cm Width: 3.5cm

   It probably goes without saying that Doryu is again cobalt blue and white. His face is the same red as the eyes of the monster, and while it's small and monochrome Doryu's face has a pretty good sculpt. The red paint washes this out a little - it comes up better on Scowl. The Decepticon logos on the sides of his chest are still visible.

   As you may have already guessed, this is Doryu's better mode. The facial sculpt alone is enough, but we've also got a fairly well defined robot shape, rather than the lump which is meant to be a monster. There's a gap between his thighs and a recess between his white boots (which are a single piece). The toes of the monster mode are now his kneecaps, which looks a little strange. There's also a big square above his head, which is the snout of the dog head.

   There's some play value here, although not much. The elbows are hinged and the shoulders can swing out to the sides. Granted, these joints are for his transformation, but they still count as articulation. And it's more than the monster mode can do - it just sits there not really looking like a monster, this is a quasi-poseable robot that does actually look like a robot.

   While it's far from the best robot mode ever, Doryu's robot mode _is_ easily his better mode. It's small and simplistic, and not really anything to get excited about, but it's not the worst robot mode amongst the Dinoforce.

The Pretender Shell

   A green Stegosaurus with grey spines on top, and a robotic gold backpack on either side of the spines, fringed by grey. It's moulded in a walking position with the legs on the right side "together" - they're a single protrusion. There are two simple spines on the tail and the head is tilted up slightly, with sculpted teeth, nostrils and (unpainted) eyes. The colours work well enough without being especially good - they're adequate.

   This shell has no poseability, and aside from popping off the top to insert/remove Doryu, the only play value we get is a hole on the right side to insert his handgun. It also carries a footpad on either side (there are posts on the rear hips).

   A much better shell than the blue lump his anglophone counterpart has, even if that rock monster is more interesting. The shape is well defined and the detailing is better. It's one of the weaker ones amongst the Dinoforce shells, but it still works well.

VARIATIONS

   None I'm aware of. As mentioned, he is a repaint of Scowl.

OVERALL

   A reasonable toy, and while he's better than his yellow counterpart, Doryu doesn't inspire me much. The monster mode sucks no matter what colour it is, since it's so poorly defined. The robot mode is okay and the shell is nice, but nothing here really stands out. Given his rarity, I can only recommend him as part of Dinoking - 4.5/10

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