Review: #139
Name: Kenzan with Zan
Brand: Transformers
Allegiance: Autobot
Line: Transformers Go!
Year of Release: 2013
Size Class: Voyager (Wave 2)
Variations: none as of yet
BIO CARD:
Kenzan comes with three separate bio cards, one for each mode. For some reason, it's only printed on one side, the other side is the ugly brown cardboard color, which makes these cards look really cheap. For some reason, Kenzan also comes in a bigger box then Jinbu or Ganou, even though they're all roughly the same size. Probably due to the fact that Kenzan had electronics (also explains the higher price).
VEHICLE MODE:
Kenzan transforms into a blue and white police sports car, definitely does not seem to be a western one, it's more akin to the Japanese ones (as you'd expect).
As mentioned, Kenzan is the only one of the three with electronics, which is that big ugly blue block on the back, that said, I think Kenzan has some complex sound effects with different sounds for each of the different modes (vehicle, robot, GoKenzan, GoJinbu and GoGanou, if I remember that correctly from a video review I watched).
The lightbar also lights up and the Autobot symbol is the trigger button for all these effects. It's actually fairly neat if you like this sort of stuff, too bad it does compromise the figure a fair bit.
As a sports car, naturally there aren't many sculpted details, instead preferring a smooth and sleek surface. Kenzan looks pretty good from the front and the silver painted grill looks amazing.
Sadly, the same can't be said for the rear of the car, it's not even recognizable. There hasn't even been an attempt at trying to mold some car details in.
It might be hard to pick up from photos, but Kenzan is approximately Voyager sized. Something I was pleasantly surprised about, since I expected them to be around Deluxe sized, it makes the prices a bit easier to stomach. A major aesthetic flaw with Kenzan's vehicle is how the hood of the car takes up so much of the length, add to the fact that the vehicle's wide, and the back section of the car feels too short.
Kenzan's twin blades store by attaching to pegs on the underside of the car. Sadly, the sword handles look nowhere near like exhaust pipes, oh well.
You can also store the combiner kibble by plugging it on top as a set of guns. It's oversized and looks stupid. Kenzan can roll, this and the lights and sounds are the only play value here.
If you wish, you can store all his accessories in this mode. Kenzan has got various ports around his body, but I found the best section to store Zan (his Arms Micron) to be on the rear left side. This is a solid vehicle mode.
ZAN:
Lets have a look at Kenzan's Arms Micron, Zan. Zan is a repaint of Leo Prime's micron, done in clear translucent plastic (which is a nightmare trying to take a picture which clearly shows his sculpted details). He was a promotion item when you bought Kenzan at participating retailers in Japan.
A close up of his face, where you can just make up some of the sculpted details. He's not very articulated though, his arms swing up and down, and his legs swing forward and back.
He needs the tip of the sword to act as a third leg. When assembling him, a flaw was that the arms/shoulders will develop stress marks when you plug it in since the plastic is not flexible enough and you have to force it, a bit worrying as this is translucent plastic after all.
He transforms into a nice sword, one of the better micron molds.
TRANSFORMATION:
Kenzan's transformation is actually fairly simple. Two-thirds of the car ends up forming his legs, yeah, you've read that right, it's like Midnight Express all over again. I really like the fact that you're manipulating large pieces, as it makes the transformation process much easier, more fun and less prone to breakage. There are tabs everywhere for the different modes. Joints are tight, with a lot of ratchets in this legs that give satisfying clicks (although a few are super tight, since they are needed to support the combined mode's weight). The only awkward part is when you flip the electronics block over to his back as it doesn't seem to want to peg in (you'll also get a transformation sound effect when you do that).
ROBOT MODE:
Now onto the robot mode. The defining feature of Kenzan? Not only does he have bulky legs, they're long too. It's further emphasized by the short torso, small head and thin arms.
While not immediately obvious since his torso hides it, but his real hips are nearly all the way up to the shoulder.
One of the worst things is that the electronics block rest on his back, sticking out a fair bit. While unavoidable, it's still annoying that there was this compromise (if there were no batteries in there, then that bulk could have been used for his torso or at least collapse better).
The head sculpt is okay, a bit too rounded for my liking, he also features a piece of plastic on the back of his head which you lift up to simulate hair tied up as you would find on a real samurai.
His chest lights up as part of the electronic gimmick, and it does look pretty cool. Kenzan's very blue though, and now that I'm looking at the photo, it seems that there aren't too many painted details.
Kenzan is approximately Voyager sized once again, and he feels quite heavy, thanks to the electronics in him. The plastic used feels good quality, and at least not as if it's going to warp or stress easily.
Kenzan's weapons are twin swords. Both are made from soft rubber, which isn't preferred but this does prevent them from easily snapping.
There are a few places you can store the swords if you're not using them. Either on his backpack or behind the shoulder, both have pegs for the swords to plug into.
Obviously, Kenzan can hold the swords in his hands. What he can't do, however, is hold both in one hand (his fists doesn't have a hole all the way through).
His other weapon, a ranged one this time, is made from the combiner kibble. It's in exactly the same configuration as it was in vehicle mode.
Kenzan can hold it as a twin laser pistol, however, it's too large for Kenzan to use (it just looks awkward) and it doesn't look that great anyway. You can store it on Kenzan's back, although that just makes his backpack even bigger.
Another way is to plug it on top of Kenzan to form shoulder cannons, which looks slightly better, but still not ideal.
Don't forget, Kenzan still has one more weapon left, his Arms Micron, Zan.
Poseability is good, Kenzan has all the joints that you'd expect. Sadly, while they added a hinge so that this robot has a normal 'hip' to bend back and forth, he still has to use the hip joints near his shoulders to move his legs to the side. Kenzan has large heelspurs, so that he can support many poses easily.
While Kenzan doesn't have enough hands to wield all his weapons at once, everything can attach to him in one way or another simultaneous, which is great. This is a solid robot mode, just some aesthetic issues.
TRANSFORMATION (HEAD, TORSO, LEG):
Transformation into the combiner head is quite simple, with the arm folding back and the legs going out to the sides to form the combined mode's arms. There's nothing tricky here, and I like how his hands form from the heelspurs of the robot mode's feet. It's a compact mode that's done well. You place the combiner head armor on top of the head to complete the mode.
Torso is a bit more messy, it seems that the designer focused upon the head mode more, and then fiddling with the leftover pieces to try and find a configuration that fits.
Leg mode is interesting in that Kenzan flips upside down. What's disappointing is that Kenzan's leg form retains the robot mode's feet, meaning that the combiner has super tiny feet. Overall, you can feel the similarities in transformation between each of the different modes, but it works.
GOKENZAN:
Let's go! Kenzan! Jinbu! Ganou! Form GoKenzan!!!!!
Then, to the star of the review, GoKenzan! Formed by Kenzan being the head, Jinbu the torso and Ganou the legs.
For those who don't know, the gimmick of the set is the ability to form three unique combiners, GoKenzan, GoJinbu and GoGanou. While theoretically there should be six unique combinations, they're designed in such a way that each mode has dedicated pegs that aren't interchangeable.
One of the biggest flaw of the combined mode is the massive backpack. Note that GoKenzan also has the most compact backpack out of the three, and that's saying something.
Still, GoKenzan looks awesome, and the shoulder armor coupled with the head sculpt reminds me of Gundam. True, GoKenzan has some proportion problems such as elongated waist, long arms, long skinny legs, but if you wish, you can do some fiddling around to make him look better (he looks better in real life than pictures show).
The head sculpt is great, I particularly love the large fore-crest. Sadly, the head is fixed in place since it actually covers the small robot's head. I don't really see a need for this except that it just fits into the samurai theme (i.e. the combiner head is the helmet) since the robot head can fold back and the combined head can easily be articulated. I'm also thinking the expense of molding and attaching a separate piece might have been a factor.
In case you haven't noticed already, GoKenzan is HUGE. Understandable since he's formed by three Voyager sized figures. He's as big as MP-01 and he's heavy to boot. It's surprising how heavy this guy is when you hold him in your hand.
Now, onto the various weapons. The first is to make sure of the two remaining combiner heads from the other two 'bots. They combine together to form... this odd thing, I think it's supposed to be a gun.
Although at certain angles, you can assume it to be some sort of shield... Thankfully, with the many ports this guy has, you can attach the two pieces of extra armor around his body to store it, that's at least better than this forced weapon.
The other weapon is much better and cooler. You can combine Kenzan's twin swords, with Ganou's spear and Jinbu's long sword to form this super long, and wicked looking spear. It's a huge weapon and looks amazing.
Since Kenzan's hands isn't your normal fist with a 5mm hole, there's another hole above the fingers so he can hold the weapon. The flashing lights are now on his chest, and it shines through the gaps in the armor, so it looks pretty cool.
The last weapon is the combination of all three Arms Micron into some sort of super sword. It looks decent, considering that these Microns weren't designed to combine into anything coherent. I also like the fact that the Micron's mimics the combining order of their partners when forming GoKenzan.
GoKenzan is the only combiner mode out of the box that can hold the Micron's super weapon without any modification. Sadly though, he holds it loosely, since the sword's handle is not long enough, and the fact that GoKenzan's peghole seems to be a little bit wider than the standard 5mm peghole.
GoKenzan is the only combiner mode that can actually sustain a pose. He has a large enough footprint and the weight is spread more evenly than the other two combiner modes.
After playing with all three modes, you can tell that the designer focused more upon GoKenzan than the other two, and why it seems that this is the 'default' combiner mode of the Samurai Team. A good combined mode and massive fun.
OVERALL:
On his own, Kenzan is fairly forgettable, but as a set with Jinbu and Ganou, he is unbelievable fun. There's a lot of versatility in the different modes, providing tonnes of play value. Kenzan is also the best standalone bot (marginally beating out Ganou), with a decent vehicle mode and a passable robot mode (the legs are the biggest weakness). GoKenzan looks great and doesn't provide any stability issues like the other two. While I wouldn't say the electronics are worth the spike in price, Kenzan is a solid toy.
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For reviews of other Transformers, including Go! Jinbu and Ganou, check out this page here.