King Arts Danguard Ace
The box is somewhat big, spanning 14.75 x 16.25 x 4.75 inches in dimension.
Take note of the Satellizer support stand accessory taped to the back of the tray.
Yeeesh! The manual is very poorly executed.
Story
In the near future, with the discovery of a tenth planet in the solar system, dubbed Promete, mankind sets out to create a new home after the Earth has run dangerously low on resources. Unfortunately, Doppler betrays the first explorers and takes the planet’s resources for himself, establishing a powerful army on the new planet over the span of 10 years.
Before the Earth can counterattack with its own fleet of newly developed giant combat robots, Doppler sends his forces to destroy them all, save for one, the Danguard Ace.
Piloted by Takuma Ichimonji, the Danguard Ace was originally created only for space exploration and creating settlements. It didn’t have any weapons of its own. The crew of the Jasdam base had to develop offensive technology to be incorporated into Danguard Ace by salvaging parts from the defeated enemy Mecha Satans.
Removable “armor” plating. When you first open up the box, this is more or less what will greet you. Pretty impressive IMHO.
Armor fully removed.
Take care when returning the upper thigh armor. It’s a tight fit so you might scratch the finish in some areas if you’re not careful.
You can opt to leave the wings on for Danguard in robot mode.
But swapping them out for the “clean” Anime look is easy to do.
Danguard features butterfly joints for its shoulders, allowing for some pretty great poses when it’s holding the Double Shaft.
The set also features LEDs for the eyes and Pulsar Cannon.
Too bad I didn’t have any LR521 button batteries on hand (the set requires 6, not included in the package), so I couldn’t get the electronics to work, but going by what I’ve seen on Youtube, the LEDs are VERY bright.
Replacing the heads is easy, just pop them off from the ball joint.
Both the LED and “X-ray” heads require the use of the “splitting helmet”.
Danguard Attacks:
Teleportation Punch! (“Photon Punch” in the Force Five dub) -Danguard fires “energy” bolts from his forearms.
Teleportion Missiles – Danguard fires energy-based projectiles from its shoulders (I really wish they included effects parts for this).
Cosmo Arrow -Danguard uses its shin armor plating as melee weapons.
Removing the shin armor/ Cosmo Arrows is not too difficult. You will need to swap the default fists out for fists that have holes to grab the weapons, though.
Double shaft! (“Spartan Javelin” in the Force Five dub) – By combining the Cosmo Arrows, Danguard forms a double-bladed spear.
Pulsar Cannon! – Danguard’s finisher attack. A powerful energy bolt fired from its open chest armor. The output is powerful enough to wipe out an entire fleet of Mecha Satan units.
By default, the Satellizer’s landing gears are what’s plugged into Danguard’s chest.
Simply swap them out for the panel that has the Pulsar Cannon.
“Open Danguard!” “Change Satellizer Set On!”
TRANSFORMATION NOTES
Replacing the default head is required. You will also need the alternate “transformable” Guard Launcher helmet from the tray.
Guard Launcher – Similar to the SOC design, the transforming Guard Launcher opens up. You can then put in the “filler” piece to “complete the look” of the craft.
To disengage the lower half of the unit, just press this release button on its back.
To fold Danguard’s fists into its chest cavity, you will also need to swap the bigger default fists with the “baby hands” version.
Alternately, you can just opt to pull the whole forearms out and place the optional cover plate just to make everything look neater.
Opening up this panel on the side of Danguard’s legs allow for folks to insert any object to push the thrust nozzle panels out (you’ll have to provide your own tool).
Lastly, just insert the Guard Launcher into the Satellizer.
Satellizer mode
Do note that the Satellizer cannot stay upright without the clear support stand (it’s tapped on the backside of the tray)
Impressively, the Danguard’s legs are held together with strong magnets! It sure beats the silly tabs sticking out like sore thumbs on the SOC version.
Unfortunately, due to my very, very hectic schedule, I didn’t have time to break out the old Gx-62 and Yamato Toys Danguard Ace for photo comparisons. But this thing easily beats out both versions in terms of height and weight.
-The weigh in:
–Yamato Toys – 935 Grams
–SOC Gx-62 – 370 Grams
–King Arts – 1113 Grams
-Height Comparison
–Yamato Toys – 10.5 inches
–SOC Gx-62 – 7.5 inches
–King Arts – 12.75 inches
The Good
-Danguard Ace weighs 1113 Grams and stands roughly 12.75 inches
-Diecast parts include
–Shoulders
–Waist
–Upper Thighs
–Feet
-Use of magnets for locking the legs together in Satellizer mode is ingenious!
-Heaviest Danguard figure to date!
-Tallest Danguard figure to date!
-Removable “armor” pieces.
-Light up eyes and Pulsar Cannon!
-The option to swap out parts for “screen-accurate” Satellizer is acceptable.
The Bad
-No display base.
-No effects parts.
-Engineering borrows heavily from the SOC release designs.
-Manual is just black and white and doesn’t do a clear job explaining what’s what.
-Satellizer mode requires the support stand, otherwise it’s a total fail.
-No optional “upsized” rear wheels accessory for Satellizer so we don’t have to rely on the stand (like how Bandai executed it on the SOC).
-No Star Arrow mini ship.
-Aesthetics can be a bit too stylized for some who prefer the clean “Anime-accurate” look.
-No batteries included. I was really hoping they were included, so we can work with the electronics right away without having to hunt down such unique batteries.
The Ugly
Combining Danguard back into robot mode from Satellizer mode can be a bit difficult at times. Getting the front of the robot to tab in first as per the instructions isn’t as smooth as I like it to be.
Also, good grief! The manual could’ve been done better. It’s intended for a high-end collectible, this is just unacceptable!
Overall, I am still very happy with this release. While it does take a lot of design cues from the SOC (I wonder how Bandai is OK with that?), they did this release right by upsizing it to the height everyone and their uncle all wished the SOC was back in the day (I can’t believe it’s already been 10 years since the SOC Gx-62 rolled out).
Plus it’s the tallest and heaviest Danguard Ace out there to boot! It outweighs even the older “heavy” Yamato Toys version by about 173 grams (935 Grams vs 1113 Grams). Top that off with electronics and removable armor plates, it’s solid win!
The only real drawback here is that the aesthetics are a bit stylized, so some folks might be turned off by it, but, personally, I think the figure carries itself well.
Funfact: Danguard didn’t appear until the 13th episode in the series (making the story more character driven).
Funfact 2 : Danguard A is the only time legendary Anime creator Leiji Matsumoto (of Space Battleship Yamato and Galaxy Express 999 fame) ever did a mecha series.
Gold
