Name: Dangar
Series: Unite Warriors
Allegiance: Destronger
Alternate Mode: Tank

TANK MODE
Height: 5cm Length: 12cm Width: 6cm
A beige tank with some brown ... quasi-camo. It's not a true camouflage as seen on the original toy as it's more of a collection of symmetrical geometric brown patches - although the splash across the turret is asymmetrical. There's a black Destronger logo on the front of the tank while is treads are painted gunmetal. Dangar sports a black cannon and a metallic dark brown secondary gun atop the turret - the type that's hand operated by a member of the tank's crew. While I would have preferred a true camouflage pattern, this colour scheme is still very much Dangar and the sculpt is very good, so he looks good in this mode.
As is common for the line, there are attachment points for his weaponry in this mode - aside from the rolling wheels this is all the play value we get. There's a hole on top of the turret designed for general weapon mounting - in Dangar's case it's meant for that brown gun. In theory one of the gold hand/foot accessories can be attached as a weapon... but unlike Combiner Wars, this isn't something officially promoted for Dangar. He has small wheels under the treads allowing him to roll.
It's an attractive tank mode and the addition of the brown gun (unique to this version of the mould) adds something - it's designed to resemble the attack mode guns of the original toy). The choice of a brown pattern over camouflage is an strange one, but I suspect they were going for a more unified look in robot mode. The only actual flaw here is that the turret doesn't turn.
TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE
Detach and set aside the brown gun. Pull out the sides of the front, then the sides of the rear, which pivot back to form his boots. Rotate the legs, swing down and pivot the groin into place - there's two hinges involved and while the end result looks like it's not clipped into place, once you get it right, his groin will stay in place. Rotate the from sides down to form his arms and swing down the forearms. Fold back the turret and swing out the head. Place the brown gun into his hand.
ROBOT MODE
Height: 17cm Width: ~7cm (depending on pose)
A beige robot with gunmetal treads on his upper arms. Danger has brown on his head groin, thighs and fists; along with some camouflage sections on his chest and boots. The residual camouflage on his chest is somewhat asymmetrical - due to sculpted detail - white the boots are symmetrical (should have been all or nothing, in truth). That Destronger logo is now on his chest and his eyes are painted orange. This colour scheme is mostly faithful to the original toy and Car Robots cartoon - but the gunmetal treads on his arms are significant departure - I can live with them, given that he's a repaint of Brawl, and that toy chose to go with his G1 animated look (while the animated model of Danger was faithful to the original G1 era look).
While it's not something that bothers me at all, I know some don't like the gappiness of his waist. There IS a distinct gap and a hinge with a fairly shallow connection where he clips together. While his waist _does_ clip together, it's not the strongest connection. The gap isn't so much visible from the front as such, but really does look weird from the side. The gap is more noticeable on Dangar than Brawl, due to his lighter beige, but the waist joint piece itself is black which helps reduce the visual impact.
Poseability is good by the already decent standard of Combiner Wars/Unite Warriors. His head and waist turn while the elbows and hips are ball jointed. His shoulders swing and lift out to the sides while his knees are hinged with rotators. Unusually for a CW/UW deluxe, Dangar gets ankle tilts. The cannon on his turret detaches and can fit in either hand as a gun. There's a trick to getting it out - press from underneath the turret. It works well as a handgun - although it's not officially endorsed like it is for Brawl.
While the gap in his waist is the only flaw here, it's one that will bother some. None of my versions of this mould have issues staying together, thankfully. It's more visible on this lighter figure than say Brawl, but I don't find it a problem. The colours are very much Dangar and the G1 Brawl toy-like head sculpt means the sculpt works for Dangar. Some might not like the choice of beige over the blue of the anglophone market version, Armorhide, I got Dangar before the RiD toy line came along... and even then the cartoon version was always beige at any rate.
VARIATIONS
A repaint of Brawl, as mentioned. He shares the mould with Unite & G2 versions of Brawl.BotCon 2016 Ram Horn, Combiner Wars Nosecone, Unite Warriors Ironbison and Drillhorn, are all retools of Brawl that share the mould with Dangar.
He was sold only as part of the Baldigus giftset.
OVERALL
There are some clear shortcomings here, but I feel the positives are enough to carry them. The turret doesn't turn and there's a gap in the waist. The latter doesn't bother me, but I know it bothers some. I do wish the turret could turn, but on the upside the robot mode poseability is above what I'd expect of a Unite Wariors deluxe. The sculpt is good and this is clearly Dangar. While I don't think he pulls off the character tribute quite as well as Brawl, that's mostly due to the fact the mould was designed with G1 cartoon aspects in mind. Given that he's part of a giftset, you're probably only going to want to get Dangar if you're a fan of Car Robots/Robots in Disguise - so it's hard to recommend him individually, but this is a nice tribute to a the character - 8.5/10
|