Botcon 2014 Voyager Ginrai Prototype
The fifth toy in this year’s Botcon box set has been announced, and it’s Ginrai.
As to the choice of mold, this is such a great toy that you can’t go wrong with it. This is probably the best non-Masterpiece Optimus Prime toy ever. So top marks for the mold choice.
Ginrai is certainly deserving of an homage, but let’s not kid ourselves. This choice is to help make the box set more appealing to fans in Japan when it is sold through eHobby. Still, I love the character choice, if they do it right. (Yes, you do hear a BUT coming…)
The problem is the color scheme. I get it. They are going for Fire Guts Ginrai, the repaint of the reissue Ginrai from 2002, and it looks really great as Fire Guts Ginrai. But, if you’re going to do that, then CALL THE TOY Fire Guts Ginrai, because Ginrai in orange and red is stupid. I know why they didn’t do him in his regular colors, because that would be too close to Optimus Prime. They didn’t do him as Nucleon Quest Ginrai because that would have been too much like the Nemesis version of this mold. I would even be less than completely annoyed if they gave him another name, Fireball Ginrai or Firestorm Ginrai, or even Generation 2 Ginrai would have worked for the color scheme. In these colors he is just not Ginrai. They could have even gone with, and I feel nauseous even suggesting it, Shattered Glass Ginrai. I’m sure most will consider this picky, but it really isn’t. I would have preferred they do him in orange and blue with a new head and made him Huffer. That would have been a better choice for the thirtieth anniversary.
Also, if he’s going to be Ginrai, then he should have Godbomber. I suppose there is a chance that Godbomber is one of the Souvenir toys but even if he is, they won’t call him Godbomber. They would probably call him Apex Bomber, the name given to him for the Toys R Us reissue. That would be fine as a partner for Optimus Prime, but as a partner for Ginrai it would make no sense. Do it right or don’t do it at all.
As a celebration of the 30th anniversary, it fails miserably. Not as miserably as the Thrilling Thirty line does, but that’s a really high bar. Not sure anything can attain that level on inanity.
Anyway, overall the choice of molds for the box set is decent. I can’t complain about the molds, all five are very good. Still not feeling the whole pirates and Knights thing. Cannonball’s skeleton is the only vaguely pirate thing about the pirates, and I don’t even know what you’d use to make the other knights. Horses maybe? On the bright side, at least for $400 you’ll get 5 decent toys even if they are conceptually questionable.
Botcon 2014 Deluxe Cannonball Prototype (And my thoughts on the Botcon 2014 storyline and concept.)
Botcon 2014 Deluxe Cannonball Prototype
Botcon 2014 Deluxe Ferak Prototype
Botcon 2014 Deluxe Devcon Prototype
Botcon 2014 Ultra Scorponok Prototype
Thanks for reading!
Tagged: Botcon, Botcon 2014, Fire Guts, Fire Guts Ginrai, Ginrai, Godmaster Ginrai, Knights, Nucleon Quest, Nucleon Quest Ginrai, Optimus Prime, Pirates, Pirates vs. Knights, Powermaster, Powermaster Optimus Prime, Super Ginrai, Toys, Transformers
