October 20, 2000 CURRENT RUMBLE DENDOH-man-oh-man-oh-man... Matt Alt & Yappy 10.20.00 It's no particular secret that I'm hopelessly underwhelmed by new toys. Nope, not even the beloved Soul Of Chogokin series really does it for me. Sure, they're made well. But there's no question that they're evolutionary instead of revolutionary. Visually stunning? No doubt. But not particularly groundbreaking. And to be honest, that's basically the case with most of the toys we're seeing on shelves these days. Mobile Suit In Action. Kaiyodo action figures. Even the spectacularly well-crafted M-1 vinyl monsters. For a country of people obsessed with the latest and greatest in high-tech gadgetry, it seems the Japanese toy industry has gone -- robot dogs and cybernetic jellyfish notwithstanding -- totally, irrevocably retro. Which isn't necessarily such a bad thing, but as the proverb goes, "man cannot live on reissues alone." The constant (and welcome) flood of old-school robot design is great, but one of the things that always attracted me to Japanese toy-design was the quirky inventiveness of it all. Perhaps that's why, then, I find myself utterly enchanted with my latest acquisition: the stocky, blocky mechanical duo known as Gear Fighter Dendoh (literally, "Electric Kid") and Knight Oger ("Fang of the She-Phoenix"). They're new, which usually pushes something right off my toy-radar. They're battery-operated, which isn't something I'm particularly into. And there's next to no metal content, another strike. But when I first laid eyes on the pics of these guys, I knew they had a certain something that's been all too absent from Bandai and Takara offerings of late: novelty. They're not re-hashes of tried-and-true characters -- they're NEW. Yappy: You can sum up the "Dendoh Experience" with one word: Different. There's just nothing currently in the Japanese Toy Kingdom like these toys. Perhaps the closest thing might be the motorized Tomy Z-Knights that came out a few years back, but those were kits, not pure toys. Imagine a parallel dimension where the whole gokin craze never happened, and the original battery-operated robots of the 50's and 60's eventually evolved into these Gear Fighters. That's how revolutionary they are. Not only are they based on all-new designs, but they've got an all-new trick up their respective rubber-jacketed sleeves: a quartet of tiny motors, to be exact. Powered grip-pads that completely surround the forearms and lower legs of the robots allow the Gear Fighters to slide-kick, spin, and breakdance with the best of them. It's an ingenious little mechanism -- the first of its kind that I've ever seen, actually. Combined with the great poseability of the robots, this gives the toys REAL play value -- as in the kind of thing that actually appeals to kids, rather than "adults" too obsessed to ever even remove their toys from the packaging. I can't stop screwing around with these guys. Yappy: I have to interject about the packaging here. Bandai has produced absolutely beautiful boxes with nifty velcro-ed gatefold covers. They're like nothing the stodgy company has done before, adding to the uniqueness of the Dendoh line. The bold 3D CG graphics might be a little trendy, but the imagery almost acts as an homage to that classic video-robot, Laserion. The gimmick is great, but what really gets me about the Gear Fighters is their overall sense of design. They're bulky, chunky, and heavy-looking; they veritably scream "battle robot" just standing there. Dendoh's '57 Chevy-style wraparound front-grille makes him look like a piece of industrial equipment; Oger's face and mask, complete with a pair of sword-blades extending horizontally from the ears, manages to evoke classic "hero robot" design without wallowing in nostalgia. There's absolutely no question that someone who loves giant robots very, very much spent hours upon hours getting these babies just right -- and they didn't do it by mindlessly aping previously successful characters, either. They're that slick, that polished: paragons of modern industrial toy-design. Even their little visors close into place! Yappy: These toys are amazingly rugged and hefty for all-plastic creations. Indeed, all the joints are seriously "detented." Unfortunately, those detents only move in 45 degree increments, but you can be sure that detention will lock any of the Gear Fighters' poses in place, including crazy one-footed stances. The lack of an upper arm swivel is disappointing, but the hands do open and close. Whee! Here's the deal. Each of the Gear Fighters wears a backpack containing a pair of AA batteries. These are used to power a stepper motor housed in each limb. (And speaking as someone who spent most of their childhood collecting stepper motors in a futile attempt to build robots of their very own, it's somehow satisfying to see that someone actually managed to DO it.) A tiny three-step button allows you to actuate the arm motors and leg motors in tandem or all at once, while a (surprisingly clunky) switch on each thigh allows you to set the leg steppers for independent counter-rotation. All of these myriad settings are necessary to pull off various "attack moves," which involve putting the robots in a fixed pose and setting the motors so as to allow movement. (For total control freaks, a separately-sold "Gear Commander" allows you to set each stepper independently using a little plug-in controller.) No, I'm not talking walking -- I'm talking SLIDING. As in sliding on one leg-roller whilst extending the other leg out for a "flying kick," or rotating on both forearms for a Breakin'-style inverted roundhouse. [Darren: Well, they aren't technically stepper motors, but...] Or whatever. To be honest, I haven't really tried it very much. Even as a Japanese-robot-crazed kid, I NEVER played with mine by slamming them together; it's a totally alien concept to me. That's why you'll find me training my Gear Fighters in the graceful and non-combative art of T'ai Chi. Yappy: Even though they're made from shiny, heavy-duty ABS styrene, there's no doubt that that these toys are meant to be bruised, scratched, and generally beat-up. They're almost a slap to the face to collectors of Japanese knick-knacks, and a big departure from the fragile "pieces" Bandai has been churning out in the last decade (yes, and like all recent Bandai products, there are parts that need to be snipped off sprues). Their sheer ruggedness hints at the possibility that Bandai is targeting Dendoh for more than the Japanese market-- perhaps even for a release in the rough-and-tumble Western Hemisphere. Then again, if anyone remembers the Stomper 4x4 fiasco from the early eighties (hair getting caught in the exposed gears of those motorized trucks), there will be little chance of Dendoh making it past U.S. safety standards. If you really want to make the most out of these toys, here's a suggestion: go old-school. Grab a large piece of cardboard and set the Gear Fighters free on it. They were made for the Electric Boogaloo. ToyboxDX wishes to thank Robozone, robot-toy dealers extrordinaire, for graciously lending us a pair of Gear Fighters to toy around with. Yappy: Ignore everything Matt wrote. Listen to someone who actually paid for his toys. And keep an eye out for Dendoh Data Weapons. Each animal-themed accessory attaches to one of a Gear Figher's motors. Available now is the arm-mounted Unicorn Drill. Coming soon are Dragon Flare, Leo Circle, Viper Whip, and the chest-mounted Gattling Boar(!).  RUMBLE INDEX  |  CURRENT RUMBLE