Review: #141
Name: Ganoh with Gan
Brand: Transformers
Allegiance: Autobot
Line: Transformers Go!
Year of Release: 2013
Size Class: Voyager (Wave 2)
Variations: none as of yet
BIO CARD:
Just like the other two, Ganoh comes with three bio cards, one for each mode, and just like the other two, the lack of print on the back of the cards make them look tacky and cheap.
VEHICLE MODE:
Ganoh transforms into a fire truck (in the actual animation, he scans a fire truck with a model similar to RiD Optimus Prime, but he takes on a completely different model instead...). All six wheels roll and he has a hose on top (which is his robot mode's weapon).
The back of the vehicle is terrible, the combined mode's fists are painfully visible, the designer didn't make any effort to hide it away or at least make the back more truck-like.
The sculpting isn't too bad considering that only the front of the truck is dedicated vehicle mode parts. Ganoh is blocky in this mode and he lacks any transparent plastic (not essential, but would be nice).
If you're looking from above, there's a gap down the middle of the truck which the weapons tries to had (unsuccessfully). Ganoh is also big and hefty, the quality of plastic used is pretty good.
You can attach the combiner kibble as a sort of gun. You have to shift the weapon down the truck to fit it though, it would look better if the combiner head wasn't so obvious, jutting so far out above the truck.
And yes, it is possible to attach all of Ganoh's accessories at once. His Arms Micron, Gan, can attach on the side of the truck, although being transparent red, he blends in making him harder to see.
It's a passable truck mode. It has nowhere near the sculpted details of some other toys (even compared to the recent Generations line, let alone the Alternators and Movie lines) and more paint to break up the red would be nice.
GAN:
Onto the Arms Micron partner, Gan (yeah, the name's so original). Keeping in theme with the other Arms Micron partners in this yet, he's transparent red.
This guy is probably my favorite mold out of the three in this set since his robot mode is very strong, and his weapon mode isn't bad either. He also feels more substantial. The saw blade on his back acts as a third leg.
The head sculpt is fairly basic but Gan's a good partner to Ganoh, since Gan himself looks quite bulky, blocky and powerful.
Gan's weapon mode is a saw blade with the blade being able to spin. He looks great in this mode and is one of the better weapon modes of all the Arms Micron molds.
TRANSFORMATION:
Ganoh's transformation is pretty simple, however, I really like the way that most of the pieces you manipulate are large, solid pieces, which makes the transformation fairly fun and easy. What basically happens is his legs fold down, arms fold out and head flips up.
ROBOT MODE:
Ganoh's robot mode is every bit as blocky as his vehicle mode, but this is a good thing as Ganoh pulls it off well. It reinforces the fact that he's supposed to be the strong one in the team.
Ganoh's quite clean in terms of kibble, which is surprising. His combiner fists (just like Jinbu) acts as heelspurs. Granted, his torso is hollow when you think about it...
The head sculpt is good, and for some reason, it reminds me of Blaster. It's only a swivel joint though so Ganoh can't look up.
Ganoh is tall and bulky, but just like Jinbu and Kenzan, he's 90% legs, at least part of it is covered. I don't like how his arms have all these gaps in it, it makes his fists hard to pick out and generally look like rubbish.
As you may have noticed, Ganoh has big feet, or more accurately, feet that juts out thanks to him using the combiner feet as shin guards.
His combiner kibble forms a four-barreled blaster.
Which... doesn't look too well since it's situated too high thanks to the combiner head.
Another weapon is formed when you fold the 'hose' of the fire truck out to form his spear. This weapon is still made of soft plastic but it's not soft to the point of warping, it's quite rigid.
Spear in name only since Ganoh holds it via a peg in the middle, it reminds me of a helicopter rotor blade... So in the end, don't know exactly what weapon this is since it'll be an awkward weapon to carry into battle.
And last but not least, Ganoh can wield Gan in his saw form, which looks quite good and they make a nice pairing.
There are a lot of storage options, you can store the spear on his back in a v-shape (looks good from the front too).
Or you can store the combiner kibble on his back which bulks it up and blends in well.
You can put even store both at the same time which is a nice touch. This means that Ganoh won't have any random pieces leftover that might get lost.
Articulation is decent although you'd wish that Ganoh's arms were more bulky as they look lanky compared to his legs. A good robot mode and apart from the super long legs, there isn't anything else here that indicates he might be part of a combiner.
TRANSFORMATION (HEAD, TORSO, LEG):
Ganoh has one of the more interesting transformations in the team. This is because Ganoh collapses (hence the hollow torso) when going into head or leg mode. Some of the ratchets are super tight but overall, his head mode is pretty good.
Torso mode is effectively the fire truck with his legs hanging out, it's quite awkward and large.
Leg mode is probably Ganoh's best mode, he looks the best here. It's basically his robot mode with everything collapsed as much as possible except for his legs.
GAGANOH:
Ganoh, Jinbu and Kenzan... combine!
In my opinion, the weakest combined mode of the set. First of all, Kenzan's torso mode has a lot of stuff wrapping around the torso and behind it, this means that GoGanoh's arms are forced to jut out to the sides. In the photo above, the arms are sitting as close to the body as possible.
This combination is also bad because Jinbu's leg mode isn't that great. For some reason, his feet isn't as large compared to the other two combined modes, meaning that you'll have to bend the joints in such a way that he'll have a mild case of 'chicken legs'. Couple this with the fact that Kenzan's torso mode have a lot of junk at the back, and GoGanoh's extremely backheavy.
That said, GoGanoh still looks reasonably well, a huge upper body with some lanky legs. He looks powerful though.
GoGanoh's head sculpt is amazing. Sadly, since it attaches on top of Ganoh's head, it has no articulation whatsoever.
Heading to the weapons, first, there's the Arms Micron combined mode weapon which... GoGanoh can't hold. Why? This is thanks to the fists being situated lower than the forearms, so the 'hilt' of the sword gets in the way with the forearms and the handle can't plug into his fists. So sad...
Next is the combiner kibble weapon, which combines together to form a sort of forearm blaster.
Surprisingly, this works really well and GoGanoh looks awesome with it. It's the best combiner weapon out of the three.
Don't forget about the awesome spear that's formed by the three component bots' weapons.
Combined with the bulky look, GoGanoh looks very powerful, especially when he's about to punch you.
As expected, GoGanoh is pretty big, but he's not as tall as GoKenzan.
GoGanoh has some spectacular kibble, from the huge feet pieces underneath his arms to 70% of Kenzan forming a backpack. His torso flashes thanks to the electronic gimmick.
In terms of articulation, as mentioned, his arms are somewhat obstructed, and forget about posing the lower body, he's so incredibly back heavy to sustain any pose other than neutral. Thank goodness to the super tight ratchets that let's him stand...
GoGanoh needs a bit more blue from Kenzan though (Kenzan himself is mostly hidden thanks to the armor).
A combined mode with some major balancing issues. Thank goodness that this is not the only combined mode, otherwise it would have been very disappointing. As a side gimmick, it's quite fun.
OVERALL:
Ganoh is the only one that I may even give consideration to purchase on his one, with no major flaws that compromise the core robot. Still, it's a simple design with only the combining gimmick making Ganoh a much better toy. Ganoh is fun and as a set, the Samurai Team provides heaps of play value.
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