Dave's Web Diver Rant: W-10 Dragon W-13 Wyvernion I also have Pegasion and Ligaon, but I'm going to wait a bit and see if I can get a Daedalon (W-14) for a reasonable price before reviewing them, since two of their four modes involve Daedalon. Or Daitalon as a more literal reading of the Japanese gives. CAPSULES Dragon: Big. A dragon with a huge wingspan or a tractor trailer that can carry Gradion's train mode in back. Or a big weapon platform. Or a different big weapon platform. However, while it's a weapon platform for Gradion, it does not give Gradion any weapons in the game. Perhaps a bit overpriced, although with Web Diver seemingly crashing, you may be able to pick it up for a reasonable price. Mildly recommended. 4980 Yen (about $40) in Japan, upwards of that in the U.S. Wyvernion: Okay, it may be overly technified, but it's still a cool propellor driven seaplane in vehicle mode. The Wyvern mode, while a bit unposeable, is also cool, and it makes a very nice flight pack for Gradion (no game effects, though). I think I bid too high on this one, though. Recommended. 2800 Yen (about $23) in Japan. RANTS W-10: DRAGON Vehicle Mode: Transport Truck Fighter Mode: Dragon Weapon Modes: Artillery Platform, Artillery Base Elements: Air and Water (I hear it's a river dragon) Okay, this toy comes in the biggest box yet, mainly to accomodate the wingspan. It could probably have fit in a smaller box if packaged in vehicle mode. 7"x12.5"x17.5" (18cm x 32cm x 45cm) box, w00t. Piles and piles of twist-ties, of course. I've given up on untwisting these things and just use a sturdy scissors to cut them. Fighter Mode: 31.5" (80cm) wingspan. I'll let that soak in for a second. Two and a half feet of wingspan. For a visual sense of that, check http://protoformproject.com/dvd/images/dragons.GIF which compares Dragon (or Drag-on) to Drago Draconus from DinoZaurs. The main body of this blue/grey/black/red dragon is "only" 8.5" (22cm) tall at the head, or 14" (36cm) from nose to tail tip. It has a huge backpack unit that carries twin cannons each 7" (18cm) long. The wings are a slightly translucent red with black "bone" detailing. Rather than the neon green highlight color seen on all previous Web Divers, Dragon has gold highlighting. Poseability is kinda limited by the bulkiness of the figure. The neck turns and head looks up and down with jaw opening. The shoulders are universal joints, there's hinge elbows and upper arm swivels, but the vehicle kibble on the forearms limits poseability. The hips are ratcheting universal joints, with hinge knees and some ankle jointing, but the figure can really only stand properly if hunched over. Well, it can stand up straight, but looks kinda silly. This does pop it up to 10" tall, though. The tail has three ratcheting hinge joints, one swivel and a grabbing claw at the end. The button for lighting up the chest is not accessible in this mode, but if you push in on the head the button will be pressed by folding bits. One flaw in my copy is that the two cannons do not ratchet to the same angles, so it's hard to get them lined up parallel. Other than that and some of the poseability issues mentioned, this is a pretty cool dragon mode. Transformation to Vehicle Mode: The cab is tricky, largely because bits have to fit exactly to work. Not quite at the Big Convoy level of "Can't Get The Ruddy Shell Bits To Snap Together" difficulty, though. The rear part is simplicity itself, except for the very last segment, which has really stiff ratchets and can be hard to position thanks to double jointing. Vehicle Mode: 18" (46cm) long and 5.5" (14cm) wide, this is a brute of a transport truck, with the dragon wings forming the sides of the trailer. The button for activating the flashing LEDs is easily accessible in this mode, but the light is covered up. Oops. The truck's windows are neon green. Oddly, despite its size, this vehicle only has 8 wheels. It has a number of draconic features aside from the wingsides, such as the claws in front of the wheelwells. The dragon's tail acts as a loading hook or securing clamp in this mode, although it's not quite in the right position to hold Gradion in. And holding Gradion is what this mode is all about. As big as the train mode is, it fits comfortably in the back of this monster truck. The smokestack is held firmly by the tail claw, but this requires having the train sit back an inch. Alternately, a couple of the other Web Divers can ride in back (Pegasion and Jagua-on together fit well). Pop the wings out to the side and the flying vehicles can use it as a launching pad. Base Mode: Pop the wings out to the sides as defensive walls, deploy the cannons, and you have it. 18" long, 32" wide, this mode takes up more space than any other mode. Weapon Mode: A sort of blend of dragon mode and truck mode (arms and head still folded up in truck cab shape, legs straight). A mere 9" (22cm) tall, this is meant to be an artillery position for Gradion, with defensive shielding and all that. And it's pretty impressive at that job. Too bad it doesn't hook up to Gradion and give him massive artillery power in the game. Overall: Big and bulky, has a certain amount of late G1 "technobits" look to it. It has a lot of modes and very stiff ratcheting joints (which can be good and bad). Most of the problems are little things, and the price is a bit high. W-13: Wyvernion Vehicle Mode: Seaplane Fighter Mode: Wyvern Weapon Mode: Jetpack Elements: Air and Fire I was surprised to find out that this was only 2800 Yen, given the size of this toy, easily a Mega equivalent. Lots of twist-ties keep this in the box, and the legs are packaged disconnected. They're supposed to come off for the "weapon" mode, you see. Fighter Mode: 14" (36cm) wingspan wyvern, mostly black with white, silver, red and orange accents. A wyvern is a black dragon with no forelimbs, just wings and rear legs, so this is just about right. There's a lot of airplane elements in this mode (especially the airplane tailsection), but it looks good. The wings have limited but not very meaningful poseability. The neck bends in several places and the jaw opens (in fact, if you're careful, you can get the jaw to open and close by tilting the head back and forth). The tail has two main joints to it, one spinning and one hinged. The legs are pontoons and it shows, reasonably poseable but kinda clunky. The missile launchers are pointed backwards, so the missiles look like black jetflames. The button for the flashing chest symbol is easily accessible, and the infrared LED is right next to the visible flashing light. It just unlocks a sliding puzzle, however, no weapon in the game. Transformation: Getting the wings and pontoons around is a bit tricky, and there's a lot of other sliding and rotating involved. A nicely satisfying transformation. Okay, scratch that...the wings and pontoons are really easy if you go in the right direction to start with. Oops. }-> Vehicle Mode: A really nifty black (and other colors, with orange as the trim color rather than neon green) seaplane 8" (20cm) long, a little over 10" (26cm) wingspan. This is a pretty heavily armed seaplane, with missile launchers on each wing, and twin machineguns molded on either side of the disproportionately small cockpit. The single propellor spins freely and the toy rolls on wheels in the pontoons. I have not checked to see if it floats, but I kinda doubt it does. Jetpack Mode: The pontoons separate from the main body to become heel spurs for Gradion. They aren't really necessary, as Wyvernion is feather-light compared to Gradion, but it gives the figure better *visual* balance when you snap the rest of Wyvernion onto Gradion's back. It cleverly uses existing screw holes rather than needing dedicated snaps. Giving Gradion a 14" (36cm) wingspan jetpack improves his look quite a bit. Sure, you can't play the game with the jetpack on, but Wyvernion doesn't grant any in-game powers anyway. Overall: While the wyvern mode isn't as poseable as I'd like, this toy looks good in all three modes, and makes Gradion look cooler. Worth picking up if you can find it. Dave Van Domelen, raar.