Transformers Legends LG-EX Super Ginrai (Magnus Prime) review

I'm sure every Transformers fan knows who Optimus Prime is by now, on top of having so many different iterations since 1984. It would be criminal to not know who he is, but there is one character that hacky YouTubers would make shitty video essays on: Ginrai. A human taking on a visage or the Autobot leader we all know and love, this 80's style Mamoru Chiba was thrust in a new life fighting against Decepticons of both fully robotic and Transtector variety. Hearing about this story already makes him feels more like the TF equivalent of Supaidaman, but fear not, he eventually splits apart from the non-sentient truck and trailer so the human can live on his own while the robot moved on continuing the good fight. Eventually he would become Victory Leo after dying in battle, serving as an upgrade for Star Saber. While I would love to get my hands on that HasLab Victory Saber set someday, I at least have the slightly more accessible version of this character in the form of Legends Super Ginrai...or Magnus Prime as the Hasbro version is called; for simplicity sake, I will name him Ginrai.

Here we have Ginrai in his vehicle mode. Like most modern Ultra Magnus toys, this is an all in one set up where the cab cannot separate from the trailer without disassembly. As far as matching the old toy is concerned, the general design is faithful yet the cab is much more stylized in addition to using an extra set of rear wheels not normally found on the Powermaster cab. Then again, this was made from the era where HasTak weren't going on the realm of super cartoon accuracy, so this is meant to be closer to the older CHUG aesthetics. Still, it is Ble to capture the look of the old design with a few liberties taken from being a CW Magnus retool. That being said, don't expect it to carry any Deluxes inside despite reusing the same mold we had with the City Commander; the new chest gets in the way for any cars, and the ramps for the trailer barely work since the tabs break easily. I may have to glue them in without compromising the transformation.

The Titan Master can pilot inside the cab, something Minimus Ambus couldn't do with the Ultra Magnus head taking up space. Looking closer at it, and the colors are less Hi-Q/Ginrai exosuit and closer to the usual Optimus Prime palette. His head mode matches one of the ways Prime's face is depicted in some G1 media.

Transforming him into his base mode is sort of like doing the same with the trailer, only what were the ramps on Magnus now serve as loose equivalents of towers while the cab stays in place. At least it has a ramp on the bottom. It's about as comparable to a base mode like the old one, but with fewer ramps and no regular bot mode for Ginrai. I always wondered if this was planned right when Hasbro was working on the Combiner Wars line, especially knowing how forward thinking they grew to become with what figures to retool after messing around with the base mold. Maybe Magnus had his own base mode done for fun and the team thought it would make sense to retool him into Optimus Prime for Titans Return. Oh and he can combine with other Leaders and Titan Trypticon for further play pattern fun.

And now for the robot mode, which transforms more like an Ultra Magnus would thanks to the aforementioned retooling. It still fits this figure somewhat, just in a slightly different context. While this is lighter and cheaper feeling than the likes of SS86 Magnus, I can at least defend this and say the size makes him slightly easier to transform. However, those trailer ramps tuned shins barely like to peg in place with everything else. The resulting robot mode looks awesome, especially with this feeling more like a souped up take on the Powermaster Prime/Ginrai look. Super Ginrai wears it even better since I always imagined this would have made more sense of a design due to the extra flares compared to the slightly more conservative aesthetics on Powermaster Prime (at least the non-Titans Return one). One of the other telltale signs that this is "Magnus Prime", however, is the blue waist piece rather than a red and white one like on the proper Takara version. Not the end of the world, but it should be worth mentioning if you want to get this figure in the aftermarket. The only issue I have with this figure is that the ramps from the top of the trailer kind of look bad under his arms, but I know many will have issues with the feet looking wonky as hell. The heels are arguably the worst part, but tightening the screws has made it easier to work with.

All Titans Return Leaders have their heads covered by helmets to bulk up and better fit with the proportions of the body. Unlike the Voyagers, who use spring loaded ears or shitty masks, these actually look much better. That being said, the eyes are sunken in more. I'd argue it works better with Soundwave from the same line, or anyone who has their Titan Master faceplates more visible underneath. 

Articulation consists of a neck swivel, ratchets for the shoulders for front and back movement as well as in and out, bicep rotation, ratcheted elbows, wrist rotation, ratcheted hips, thigh rotation, ratcheted knees, and ankle pivots. Ginrai's guns are newly made rather than reusing the Combiner Wars Magnus guns, and they better match the ones found on the original toy. You can sandwich them together to make a double barrel cannon for a Titan Master to sit in, but I can't seem to find a good spot for it, and given the bulk of this figure, I don't think he can easily hold it with both handles at once.

For prior reuses, we will go backwards with each version of this figure before Magnus Prime was released. This is the proper version of Super Ginrai, who has grayer windows, a red and white crotch, and smaller Autobot insignia pushed closer to the front of the trailer. The Ginrai Titan Master, or Head Stage figure, looks closer to what we saw with Masterforce or Hi-Q in American media thanks to the proper color break up and the face being painted.

This is the 2-pack version, which came with see through windows and chromed parts, though the latter is mostly used for Godbomber. The ankles are remolded as a single hinge for better stability.

The original Hasbro version had a more stylized cab (similar to but not exactly) like Combiner Wars Ultra Magnus as well as for the chest, but the retooling wasn't as extensive as on Ginrai given he retains the same feet with no ankle pivots as well as guns with articulated hands that can't really grip them. The wheels are unpainted, the colors look like they're based on an aged copy from the 80s instead of a fresh copy, and Apex, a renamed Hi-Q, comes with worse color break up yet has a faceplate based on Orion Pax.

We got a black and gold repaint as part of a collab with Primitive Skateboarding. The colors are closer to Dark Guard Optimus Prime than Nemesis Prime, and the Titan Master is named Shreddicus Maximus. The little guy even comes with a railgun ramp to skate on with his board based on Daniel Witwicky's!

And finally, we reach Combiner Wars Ultra Magnus. Before Siegedom and SS86, this was seen as pretty close to what fans could get to an all-in-one Magnus without spending too much on MP money. The colors are sort of like Sky Lynx from the same line where they look a bit zestless and washed out, but they kind of fit the pseudo-grunge aesthetic of the IDW comics he is based on. He even has Minimus Ambus to represent the time when this tiny dude took on the visage of the big Wrecker himself. The rocket hammer is the best part of this set.

Takara's version of Magnus has more saturated colors to match the cartoon, which makes the figure feel slightly less cheap than it already is. Those rims help it even further. Minimus is repainted as Alpha Trion as the Legends mini comic showcased.

And finally, a 5-pack including Thrilling 30 Arcee and Springer as well as original Generations Kup and Blurr gives us an Ultra Magnus to lead the whole set with metallic paint jobs. I'd say this version is second best between the very nice Legends version and the drab Combiner Wars one.

For a size comparison, here is Super Ginrai/Magnus Prime/Powermaster Optimus Prime next to SS86's versions of Optimus and Ultra. It's ironic how a figure that was cheaper than two Commanders in terms of engineering yet is taller than both of them (in addition to costing less depending on where you get him). Size class heights since Siege are a funny thing to think about. While I have issues with this figure when it comes to both the issues this mold has to begin with as well as the new ones introduced, I still think this is the best version of the mold we have. The Takara version in the 2-pack with Godbomber is slightly nicer, but if you wanted to get this mold and hope to combine him with the apex drone, then you can do much worse. I'd argue we're not done yet with this figure because said apex drone will get the review spotlight very soon...

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Nendoroid Ranma 1/2 Akane & Shampoo review

The original Ranma series got attention last year, and now we have the reboot to take a look at. Near as I can tell, it's like the original manga run where there was less filler and more faithfulness to the manga. Also much like the Urusei Yatsura remake, it more focused on light censorship while trying to retain any fan service or basic nudity. However, despite being the titular character and having more merch potential with either gender, Ranma Saotome did not arrive at my doorstep. Both versions were bought at Amazon with preorders still waiting to be fulfilled while blue hair babe Akane Tendo and part-time cat Shampoo came directly from BigBadToyStore. While I wait to think of something for the protagonist of this series to make his and her way home, I will instead be reviewing the two gals who try to win his heart. Let's see how well Good Smile translated them as Nendoroids.

Let's start with Akane Tendo, the girl who has a conflicting crush towards Ranma. Between their rocky first meeting and the way Ranma sucked at socializing. This figure generally matches the shorter haircut style she's normally given, though the new anime sometimes shows her with slightly longer hair. I always preferred this style more since it makes me think of Ami, Bulma, and Rei. The dress remains consistent with what she normally wears in the series, and thankfully everything has been painted nicely with no mistakes at all. Even the eyes and the small smile have no QC issues. I always appreciate that the bare skin is left unpainted so it can look more naturalistic while the clothes and hair are painted to make them feel more premium.

As far as her accessories are concerned, she comes with alternate arms that attach to the rolled up sleeves so she can hold a very tiny P-Chan, who attaches onto a small peg for one of the alternate open palm hands. Those same bent forearms can be displayed with her having her hands on her back so she can be displayed with an alternate blushing expression with one of the legs replaced with an alternate knee-bent piece. And of course, she can be displayed with a yelling face since that is normally what she does to people. I'm surprised she doesn't come with a hammer but then again, it would be difficult for her to hold.

As for Shampoo, she comes with her Chinese dress, which stems from her ethnicity and country of origin compared to most of the other characters. Also, the new anime dub uses an actual Asian VA instead of a Caucasian mimicking how the Chinese sound, and with all the debates going on with the standards of the past versus now, I can at least say it sounds better than the replacement VAs we got with most Fox cartoon characters or Phil LaMarr no longer voicing Samurai Jack. From having the Figuart as the sole version of the character on my collection (for a while until this arrived), I was used to her having an apron on or maybe wear one of the outfits that has pink. At least she doesn't come with beef against Ranma. Also, while the bangs and the twin buns seem new, the back of the hair seems too similar to what Good Smile has done before with many long hair characters. Kagome and Misato come to mind in my collection, and I don't know if GSC uses CAD files for reference material, but maybe they don't want to deal with constantly making new sculpts for every anime character with hair that long.

As for display options, she comes with an alternate face looking to the right with a look of either seduction or straight up going "whatcha doin'?"; that or she wants to offer you some food. She also comes with bent forearms so she can either offer said meal or prance around all happy with an alternate bent leg. However, it appear that she has new articulation different from the others; her neck joint is cut at an angle compared to the more symmetrical rotation found on other figures, and it makes having her look up and down wonkier than the old hip joints on Toy Biz Marvel Legends. Not only that, but the hips are on unique double ball joints that are fairly new to me...and sadly, one of them broke. Now it could just be my luck failing me in this instance to have poor quality control, but with how delicate these parts can be, especially if they come from a poor batch of double ball pegs, GSC should look into better check-ups before shipping them. Either that or the paint dries up and froze the joint. Honestly, using normal pegs would have worked better, even if you have to shrink them because of the dress's size. Also, she doesn't have her car for., which may be saved for a Ryoga or Gendo Saotome, but who knows. So while Akane manages to be free of any issues, be careful with Shampoo or else you'll get tears in your eyes from breaking your copy the same way people get teary eyed from shampoo suds reaching their eyes.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (for both)

Transformers Age of the Primes Nexus Prime review

A lot of the Primes we got in the AOTP line have been consistently good. Some aren't as good like with Solus Prime and Alpha Trion, but I've been happy with seeing these characters spread across different size classes and having designs unique to each other. That is until we were given our first look at Nexus Prime. Problem number 1 was that he was not a combiner despite that being what he is known for. Next would have to be despite retaining that ability, he does not have a team of his own nor a frame whatsoever. And of course, his design is a mix of generic and too blocky in its overall look. Now that we have the confirmation of him having his own limbs, and possibly a frame for himself, let's see if this torso is either an underrated triumph or an underwhelming turd.

Here we have Nexus Prime in his vehicle model and it sucks. The front section where the cockpit is at reminds me of the Micromaster Combiner guns, but the rest of this is awful. It's super blocky, the wings are puny, and it barely even works as a Cybertronian altmode. This is almost like Energon Wing Saber but even worse.

One good thing about this "mode" is that it can combine with Superion's frame when it's in its alt mode. Nexus has the same slots that were on Silverbolt, and while the aesthetics clash somewhat, at least this gives the Voyager something else to do as a torsobot. Makes me wonder if this would benefit from the rest of the frame resembling Energon Storm Jet but in Nexus Prime colors.

Here he is with the other altmodes of the 2026 Primes so far. Even with only these three and without either the ones we got in 2025 or the upcoming Liege Maximo and Vector Prime, Nexus still sucks.

Transformation is weirdly similar to how Energon Wing Saber changed forms, mostly with the legs being made up from the sides of the altmode while the arms were tucked away somewhere in the middle. The front section folds onto the robot back while the wings detach and relocate there. The robot mode we end up with is mostly based on his TFOne design rather than being a new version of Energon Barricade, the figure used to make torso bot Heatwave. Yeah you heard me, we got a Shattered Glass Decepticon named Heatwave before the name was used for Rescue Bots! The color scheme is pretty close to HW, but the blues are brighter and opaque rather than translucent. You could say they wanted to combine elements of the general concept for Nexus Prime's design with some new ideas so as not to make him dependent on Energon Barricade's design or being too similar to Onslaught. After all, they did that with the TFOne version, but making it very plain. Reminds me of when Hasbro had to do something with those Bumblebee movie robots who were on Cybertron since they never transformed in the movie proper. Also I like it when Hasbro reuses the same wing piece rather than mirroring it, because why have both pieces with proper symmetry when we can always have one side of each wing always keep those slightly recessed circles without trying to keep them consistent?

Head sculpt is super generic like the rest of the TFOne design. Look more like they de-Primed his combiner head while vaguely paying tribute to the unchanged Energon Barricade head that Heatwave kept. Articulation consists of a ball jointed head, shoulder rotation, outward arm movement, bicep rotation, hinged elbows, wrist rotation (with very limited space because of the forearms), waist rotation, universal hips, thigh rotation, hinged knees, and ankles that pivot. His wings can turn into guns, though I half-expected them to turn into axes.

Oh and he has his own artifact: the Enigma of Combination. It's as nicely painted and resembles his arc-reactor looking chest detail, though the latter is meant to homage the Energon Star port found on Bruticus Maximus's chest and all versions of the mold. 

Here he is with the other Primes we got so far, and even in bot mode, he barely wins any challenges. Only this time, instead of looking awful and uninspired like in vehicle mode, he is just uninspired compared to the other Primes.

Thankfully, this toy doesn't completely suck, as the torso mode actually kicks ass co.pared to the rest of the toy. I like that we can rotate the upper body of the frame so we can see more of Nexus Prime. In a way, this feels more like the old way of using Voyagers as actual torsos like with Combiner Wars, albeit without the waist and thighs still belonging to the rest of the frame. In a way, this feels more like a mashup of Barricade's torso mode with Storm Jet's, especially with the similar wing shape on the sides and the cockpit vaguely resembling what was on there. The only issue I have would be the gaps near the sides of the torso, whereas the best part would be the head sculpt for looking more realized and better painted than the original version.

For anyone wondering, you can technically combine this with Menasor, but only the little purple panel can peg on one of the holes while the clips for the Menasor chest keep it from getting lopsided. I don't get why nothing was added to make Menasor's frame compatible with Nexus, especially with the incoming G2 set coming soon as well as a possible Hasbro-released Motormaster. An adaptor should be a priority for Nexus Prime if we get an upgrade kit, and he needs one more than the others because this toy is 66% lame. It'd be one thing if he was given the Commander Class treatment to go along with Armada Jetfire, but to just leave him as a Voyager with a blocky jet mode and a bland bot mode hurts him greatly. Yes, he is needed for your Prime display if you don't want to spend too much on the TFCC version, but be ready to wait for the rest of him to be made; the limbs are a matter of WHEN while the frame is a matter of IF.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Marvel Legends Lizard review

The Marvel Legends line has a new approach with releasing BAFs as Deluxe figures, which is fine for the most part if we get a few improvements and a reasonable price tag. Some BAFs manage to be pretty good on their own, like Retro Card Kingpin, while others suffer from falling apart easily as we've seen with Monster Venom. At times, they're saved for a multipack similar to the Juggernaut BAF repainted in classic colors with a newly made Colossus. While BAFs are still a thing in their traditional sense, I should point out that the smaller release of figures starting with 2025 means we won't likely see as many BAF waves as we have in the past, especially with the inclusion of the mini comic waves. Let's see what the newest BAF turned Deluxe figure, the Lizard, has to offer. I'm sure you all know who he is, especially with Spider-Man being the face of Marvel, but does anyone notice the DOOM imprinting for the packaging? They want to remind fans of Avengers Doomsday, even with a character who may not appear in it.

Here we have The Lizard in-hand. Straight away, you'll notice that although he captures the hunched posture with animalistic leg structure to boot, the problem is that the legs suffer from having such limited range that keeps his legs from even being close to straight. I know that it's part of his posture, but posing him with the tail as a tri pod almost makes him look like he's taking a dump. The rest of the figure looks fine in terms of sculptwork, but the paint is either inconsistently applied, like the wash on the scales (including the back of the neck being detailed while the front side somehow has no wash added), or it just looks bad (the bottom of the coat clashing with the rest looking pristine). Sure, the torn up areas on his clothes are cool, but that's common on many "ravaged" character designs that do put more thought in the detailing. If he was made to look dirtier all throughout, then maybe the price would be easier to stomach. I say that because most of the figure is generally good, yet the poor paint apps and nearly permabent knees compromise this version of the Lizard. Oh, and the joints are pinless, so for anyone bragging about how much better Hasbro's Marvel Legends is with their pinless system, why do they leave their older figures with pinned joints instead of updating them? Surely, they can spruce up the budget for just a head, imagine them going further with this.

The head sculpt is one improvement I like about this version of Lizard. Instead of leaving him with a single, static expression, this new noggin at least lets you display him with his snout open or shut, and I like the anatomical-accuracy with the reptilian edge strengthened while keeping true with his more ferocious character designs. Wish it was painted even more, though. Articulation consists of a triple neck joint (a peg where the head connects, a ball joint at the top of the neck and another ball joint for the bottom), snout opens and closes as mentioned, the tongue is on a hinge, all of that sounds good, right? The rest of the articulation ranges from standard affair to poor, with the shoulders rotating on the sockets they attach to given this was once a BAF, and the rest of the arms move in and out without popping off when trying not to be hindered by the coat overlay. Bicep rotation is good, same for the double jointed elbows, and the wrists swivel and hinge in and out; that reminds me, why do we not have alternate hands for this figure when the budget could have at least given us a pair of fists? Sure, Lizard's more likely to claw at Spider-Man than punch him, but anything would have helped ease people in paying $40 for this. The ab crunch and waist swivel is already dated yet fairly functional if not for the lab coat restricting some of the possible range you can achieve. Hips are on ball joints, thighs swivel, knees barely bend, and the ankles can hinge as well as pivot. As for the tail, while the base of it is on a ball joint, there are two points meant for a swivel hinge combo: in the middle and near the tip, yet the latter has it bending side to side rather than up and down. I get wanting to pose his tail without making it rigid, but was it hard to get a bendy wire inside there?? Sure, it would be costly to produce, but so is the price you pay for this thing!

He has an alternate head based more on the McFarlane artstyle, which is easily the best the Lizard has ever looked. I'll easily take a horrific monster design like this over the original dopey design he used to have. Sadly, nicely detailed as it may be, there is no articulation for it. And as for the scale, I know Renew Your Vows is slightly taller than normal for most fans, BUT surely that can be fixed by having the Lizard's legs slightly straighter. People will say that we can mod our toys if that bothers us, but as I always say with these issues WE SHOULDN'T HAVE TO!!!

For anyone wondering, the original version was cast in darker colors for the green and purple yet still had a mostly pristine lab coat. For as grimey as the scaly skin appears, surely Hasbro would know he's likely lurking in the sewers waiting for his next move against the webhead himself, right? The head sculpt is more dinosaur-like than the newer version, and awesome as it looked, I don't find it too appropriate as for the Lizard as the heads he comes with. This figure should obviously not be confused with the retro Card version that is closer to the classic look with that toothless head (with optional monstrous head included with alternate hands and beakers. 

Overall, I really wanted to like this version of the Lizard, especially with Hasbro releasing some of the more desired BAFs for anyone who missed out on the original runs. I can almost see the effort put in this figure with the swappable head and some of the wash used on parts of the toy, but it's more of a case where they added a few improvements, left a couple of flaws untouched, and somehow added more problems. I would say to wait for this to go on sale, but even with the item going out of stock, you got people saying this is the best version of the Lizard for Legends. I'd argue you're better off with the ToyBiz versions for doing the design more favors overall. With the way fans eat up a lot of these sub par releases and claim they're better for their brighter colors, we'll never get any proper improvements for these figures. Part of this is why I plan to retire collecting soon if we keep getting less while they charge more. With all that said, oh no...Doctor Connors' class. I got so caught up with what I was doing, I forgot all about him. He's gonna kill me...

Final ranking: ⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐