Alen Yen's ToyboxDX

	February 23, 2002


CURRENT RUMBLE

ecently in a thread on the BBS, Jessy was asking about the differences between the two versions of the Clover "Henkei Gattai" Irongear. I think that was sorted out pretty quickly with Matt's and couple of other members' input. However, Jessy also mentioned in passing that the DX "Henkei Gattai" Walker Garrier was "not impressive enough, lacking details & features".

That kinda got me in the gut, because of all the Clover Xabungle toys that I have, the DX Walker Garrier was by far my favourite piece. Sure, Jessy had a couple of legitimate complaints - it didn't have much diecast at all (except in the shoulders, connecting bar & knees), AND it had a major ugly feature on its head: Where it's supposed to have a pair of AA guns mounted on the right "cheek", Clover instead left an exposed screw hole to secure the two halves of head together. Yuck! Anyway, I decided to take my DX Walker out of the shelf and take some pix of how I managed to spruce it up and make it the baddest 'bot in the DX line-up... Let's start with a comparison of some of the Walker garrier toys out there.

Let's put our heads together... Both the smaller ones are pretty faithful to the original design, having the AA guns on the right cheek. The DX... has a gaping hole for a securing screw instead. To make up for this, it can however, OPEN the cockpit and allow you to seat two pilot figures inside! That's pretty neat, but what do we do about the HOLE? If you're up to it, something can be done...

Simply put, I "scratch-built" the AA-gun out of some spare model kit parts & circuit connectors, removed the offending screw and plugged the custom gun right where it belongs. I'm happy to say the removal of the cheek screw does not compromise the integrity of the head it stays together very nicely, held on by another screw towards the back of the right side.

Now that the cosmetic issue has been resolved, I want to tackle the "impressiveness" of the toy. The main gimmick of this robot (in any toy version), is that it splits into two separate vehicles. The upper body/backpack becomes a hover-flier (Garry Hover), the lower body becomes a... well, a very mean 3-wheeled assult truck (Garry Wheel)! Let's see the transformation:

Here's the two parts separated. The good thing about the DX toy is that the two parts are held together by a spring-loaded catch in the body, whereas the smaller ones are held together by... friction!

Here we compare the DX Garry Hover against the HCM. If you own a HCM Walker, you'll know that the flier mode requires you to "rotate" the white shoulder blocks 90 degrees forward for the proper 'look'. On the HCM, there's no way to "lock" the blocks in position - in fact they can (and often do) come off completely. On the DX, it's not the shoulders that do the rotating; the head-stem is spring loaded and rotates backwards along a guided groove. And cooler still, the backpack/hover fan can be detached from the head. And oh yeah, you can spin the fan blades!

Here's a comparison of the DX Garry Wheel versus the HCM. Honestly, this is not the most exciting part of the toy! Both appear to be rather lumpy designs, but both also feature rolling wheels (which the WMiA does not). The DX does however have two cool features... The hip joints are ratcheted, so you can position the legs correctly & easily, whereas the smaller ones are done by guesstimation and will flop about when you play with them. Secondly, the DX has real cockpits (two of them!) which can accept another two pilot figures. The only trick really, is HOW to insert the figures... Clover does not provide proper opening hatches. Which leaves the only option of OPENING UP the toy:

Here it is, partially dis-assembled. I had to fully open the lower halves to place the figures inside, but being the mecha-nut that I am, I am more than pleased with the results. I guess this is one of those "things" about Clover toys - half-implemented features, or even senseless ones (meaningless "modes" for Srungle for e.g.)

And if all these things still doesn't make it an impressive toy, I'd like to add - it can achieve some REALLY cool poses that put some SOCs to shame! It really makes the hero DX Xabungle look like a (very heavy diecast) brick in comparison. See for yourself:

-- drifand

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