Review: #432
Name: Wargreymon
Brand: Digivolving Spirits
Year of Release: 2017
Variations: none
PACKAGING AND CONTENTS:
Digivolving Spirits Wargreymon is the first in a reboot of the transforming Digimon toys from the late 1990s.
The gimmick here being that you have two forms, Agumon and Wargreymon, that you can switch between by manipulating the parts. The box is windowless but is very solid and has an excellent piece of artwork in front.
AGUMON:
The figure comes in Wargreymon form but we'll cover off Agumon first. A few liberties had to be taken but on the whole, Agumon has great proportions and you'll be hard pressed to find a fatal flaw.
He looks good from all angles, the only obvious Wargreymon parts are the chromed claws underneath Agumon's claws, and the shoulder spikes which are folded back in this form.
A big surprise when you first get the figure is the size. Agumon is quite big (above is a comparison against a typical Transformers Deluxe).
Furthermore, the figure has diecast parts, making him quite heavy. The head is sadly fixed with no movement at all.
The designer has done a good job to try and give Agumon as much meaningful articulation as possible. His shoulders and hips are on balljoints, the elbows have swivels and hinge joints (although you have to be careful to angle the claws such that you don't reveal the chromed claws and Wargreymon's hands underneath), and excellent knee and ankle joints.
The only significant impediment here is the fixed head, which was necessary due to how the head encapsulates Wargreymon's head and torso.
The yellow is the plastic's base color but the the painted claws and teeth, as well as the eyes.
With a bit of clever angling and fiddling around, you can put Agumon in a huge variety of poses.
The large feet also allows Agumon to balance really well.
A surprisingly good rendition of Agumon, especially taking into account the transforming aspect.
TRANSFORMATION:
By having two completely different modes, is it really a surprise that the figure relies heavily on shellforming? If you also compare this figure with the original, you can see that they have reused the transformation scheme as a base, and then improved upon it to give the figure better proportions. It's still great with the two halves of Agumon's head forming the wings, and the torso shells compacting onto Wargreymon's back. There are some tight joints though making transformation take a bit longer than you'd expect.
WARGREYMON:
You can see that the designer paid a lot of attention to make sure Wargreymon's proportions are not heavily compromised, and they have succeeded as he looks fantastic.
As expected, there is a ton of Agumon pieces and for the most part, it isn't too bad. Using the halves of Agumon's head as the wings is a clever idea.
The headsculpt looks amazing, and the head has heaps of articulation able to look side to side and up and down, easily.
Wargreymon doesn't actually gain that much extra height but does look more complex and detailed than Agumon's smooth features.
A comparison against the non-transforming D-Arts Wargreymon, and the Digivolving Spirits version gives it a run for its money, especially since it feels much more solid.
Articulation is simply amazing with no compromises at all. He has all the joints you'd expect of an action figure: head, shoulders, elbows, wrist, hips, knees and ankles.
A surprise is that the claws are attached to the wrists so it feels a lot more solid than the D-Arts version. The figure feels really good in your hands and despite its transforming nature, parts don't shift unexpectedly when handling the figure.
The ankles once again has heaps of movements allowing you to pull off some amazing poses. Note that the designer used a clever trick of flipping the feet upside down to swap the colors to orange for Wargreymon.
The wings are adjustable but still feels limited. There are still some proportion issues but they are minor and easily forgiven considering what the figure has to achieve.
For some reason, there is this fixation on chroming Wargreymon's claws. It doesn't work as well here since it just makes it stand out against Agumon's painted white claws. It would have blended better if it was painted white instead.
A great feat of engineering and an almost flawless rendition of Wargreymon.
OVERALL:
This is a fantastic start to the reboot of the line. Both modes are amazing, even more so when you consider the accuracy and also the amount of articulation. While he may be a little bit pricey, he has a premium feel with diecast metal and excellent paint applications. Highly recommended.
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